Sunday, August 2, 2009

Looking Out My Backdoor

Native plants are a huge part of the landscape at our house, tucked into formal plantings and pots, along with the more traditional floral fare. In an informal grouping with pink impatiens you can find the following natives: Clearweed- Pileapumila, Spotted Jewelweed- Impatiens capensis, White Vervain- Vervainurticifolia, and Virginia Jumpseed- Tovaravirginiana.

Tovaravirginiana- known as Virginia Jumpseed or Virginia Knotweed is another member of the Smartweed Family, the Polygonaceae. Polygonum means "many knees" in Latin, and it refers to the ocreae or sheathes that resemble swollen joints, commonly found on these plants. The flowers, a fine wisp of white held aloft, and the medium sized leaves are often water-marked with a chevron of color.

Balancing along the unopened flower stem like a tight-rope artist was this year's first Woolly Bear, the Isabella Moth caterpillar. A mere half inch long, it is probably too young to predict the coming weather by the condition of his coat, but it might be as accurate as some weather forecasters.